


To Be Queen

by Ultra



Category: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Genre: Dark Magic, F/M, Family, Forgiveness, Happy Ending, Kings & Queens, Moving On, Plans For The Future, Post-Canon, Step-parents, True Love, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 00:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21045155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: After riding off into the sunset with her prince, Snow White must eventually return to her own kingdom as the new queen.





	To Be Queen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [disney_gal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/disney_gal/gifts).

It was strange for the two of them to return to that kingdom, to that castle in particular. Hand in hand they made their approach, pausing by the wishing well where Snow White and her prince had first met, singing together in harmony. Of course, the castle held many more memories for Snow. Of a father so loved and so long ago lost. Of a step-mother so cruel and determined to hold on to her power.

“You do not have to be here, least of all not now,” Prince Florian told his bride, lifting her hand in his own and kissing it. “When the men are done with all the work, cleaning and restoring the palace, removing all trace of... of her...”

“Oh, no,” Snow insisted, shaking her head. “She may have been unkind to me, but I believe she was just unhappy. This was my home,” she continued, peering up at the castle with a soft smile, “and it will be again, but I’m not so sure she ever truly belonged anywhere. She always seemed so lonely.”

“You are too good, my love,” her prince told her, smiling fondly as she returned her gaze to him. “She could never have deserved your kindness, but I do understand what you say. She was a sad and bitter woman. Nothing of the queen you shall be.”

Snow did not answer, only smiled at him and tugged on his hand.

“Let’s go inside.”

Her prince would not argue with her, not his beloved. He had known from the first moment he saw her that she was his one true love, though he never could have explained such a thing and failed miserably when he tried.

Assuming her to be no more than a scullery maid, of course the king denied him the right to marry her, but even after scouring the land for an alternative bride, none could be found. The prince’s head was filled with the pretty face, beautiful voice, and wondrous spirit of Snow White. She was the only one that could ever be his princess, and now, by rights, in this land, she was queen.

“Oh, you’re all doing such wonderful work,” Snow told the men who moved out broken furniture and patched up long abandoned stonework. “I never thought it could look so elegant and welcoming again,” she enthused to the ladies who had already washed so many windows, beaten so many rugs, cleaned and cleaned until every surface sparkled.

“Things are certainly progressing well,” the prince agreed, turning around to look into the next room and another beyond.

“B-B-Begging your pardon, your majesties,” said one man then.

Snow gasped in surprise at seeing who was there. “Doc. Oh, Doc,” she moved quickly to embrace him. “I didn’t know you were helping with the work here.”

“Yes, yes, we’re all pitching in,” he told her, chuckling and blushing all at once. “But, but, but, you know, there is one place that-, well, the men, the women, not a one amongst us would-would ever dare to-, the queen’s dungeon,” he hissed at last.

“Dungeon?” the prince echoed.

“The room below stairs where no-one else was ever permitted.” Snow nodded. “I never knew exactly what she kept down there...”

Her voice drifted into nothing as she turned towards the stairs going up. She knew exactly what she had to do and pressed forward to do just that without a moment’s pause.

“Snow?” her prince called in her wake. “Please, let me.”

“No, no,” she insisted, looking back at him. “It’s something for me to do,” she said firmly. “She was my step-mother, after all. Don’t worry, I won’t be very long,” she promised, finding him a smile and blowing a kiss before she hurried away.

Going straight to the door of the queen’s bedchamber, her hand reached for the handle and a shiver ran through her. Snow did not want to be afraid, and after everything that had happened, she wondered at her nerves still.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped into the dark room. The imposing mirror seemed to stare at her even now, though Snow knew that since the queen was gone, no magic remained beyond the glass.

Steeling herself, she moved towards the centre of the room, pulled back the rug and employed all her strength to prise open the trap door. Taking the lamp with her, she carefully stepped down the stone stairway, down, down, down into the inky black of the dungeon room where spiders skittered on stone and rats’ eyes gleamed in dusty corners.

“I am not afraid,” she told herself aloud, determined to be strong as she pressed forward.

The light from the lamp glanced off the water of the river rushing beneath the castle, caught on the cauldron that had once bubbled with potions and spells. Snow approached the desk where one book lay open yet, to the page that told how to make the poison that had almost slain Snow herself. Swallowing hard, she turned to the shelf, her fingers trailing across the spines of further tomes. Astrology, Black Arts, Alchemy, Witchcraft, Black Magic, Sorcery.

“All of this and none could make you happy,” she said as if speaking to the owner of those books. “I’m so sorry.”

Footsteps behind her made Snow jump but she was calm in a moment when she saw it was only her prince approaching.

“After all that has happened, none of it your fault, and still you are sorry for what became of her?”

“It wasn’t all her fault either.” Snow sighed, looking at the books again. “But if this is to be our kingdom, I don’t want these things within its walls. No, we cannot allow others to become as she was, to allow their unhappiness to overtake them and... Any books of this kind are to be burned. I think it should be our first decree.”

“Your decree, my love,” the prince reminded her. “You are queen here, I am only...”

“You are my husband,” she told him as they embraced. “My kingdom is yours, just as your kingdom is mine. It is a stroke of luck that your land should be the neighbour of my own. I still wonder at our never meeting before we did.”

“Perhaps it was simply not the right time,” said the prince philosophically, “but Fate clearly had a plan.”

Snow smiled, her hand going to his cheek. “I always knew someday my prince would come.”

At that, the prince smiled too. “While I had no idea I would marry a princess who would be queen in her own right long before I became a king.”

“You don’t mind it,” she said just a hint of a question in her tone. “After all, you did say...”

“Snow, I could not be more proud of you, or more ready to stand at your side and be whatever you need,” he promised. “As I know you will stand at my side when I ascend the throne myself someday.”

“Oh, I’ll be proud to,” she assured him, smiling widely and accepting his sweet kiss. “Do you know what I wish to do right now?” she asked then, eyes darting around the dungeon room. “I wish to be a part of what is happening here. The cleaning and the mending. Oh, I know a queen shouldn’t have to do these things, but if she wants to?”

“If she wants to, then she must,” her prince told her definitely. “In fact, I believe I shall do the same. No man or woman should ask of others what they are not prepared to do themselves.”

Smiling at each other, hand in hand, Snow and her prince ascended the stairs, out of the darkness and into the welcoming light above. There was much to do in the castle and ever more to do in the kingdom at large, but they would see that everything was put right.

As Queen and Prince Consort, they would rule fairly and benevolently, and then in time, as King and Queen, take on their second kingdom in much the same way. One thing was for sure, they and their subjects would most definitely live happily ever after.


End file.
